# Real number symbol (UTF-8: ℝ) in XeTeX

How can I get the 'real number' sign (something like \mathbb{R} with the amssymb package in LaTeX) in XeTeX?

• Can you add the essential part of your preamble, particularly the font setting? Mar 25, 2013 at 21:24
• well I have no preamble since I'm on XeTeX ;-) Mar 25, 2013 at 21:48
• @ivaneesbeeck, i don't understand your answer. Mar 25, 2013 at 21:51
• @Ivaneesbeeck Please add the username in your comment to respond properly (as I did here), otherwise the person will not be notified of your message. It would still be interesting to see your font setup. \font\1="Linux Libertine O"\1 ℝ\bye works great for me. Mar 25, 2013 at 22:36
• I see; nothing prevents you from using the msbm10 font with XeTeX. In any case, if you don't set fonts, you're basically using the same setting as normal TeX. Mar 25, 2013 at 22:39

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
Plain-\TeX{}:   & ${\rm I\!R}$\\
amssymb:        & $\mathbb{R}$
\end{tabular}
\end{document}


You should put your symbol format definitions in another TeX file; publications tend to have their own styles, and some may use bold Roman for fields like R instead of blackboard bold. You can swap nams.tex with aom.tex. I know, this is more common with LaTeX, but the principle still applies.

For example:

% paper.tex
\input nams.tex
$\realnumbers$ is connected.

% nams.tex
\def\realnumbers{\mathbb{R}}
% more definitions for the Notices.

% aom.tex
\def\realnumbers{\mathbf{R}}
% more definitions for the Annals.


Just change one line in paper.tex to submit to the Annals instead of the Notices.

• Welcome to TeX.sx!. May be an example/illustration would help to support the answer. Mar 26, 2013 at 3:07

With lualatex

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{unicode-math}
\setmathfont{Latin Modern Math}
\begin{document}
$ℝ$
\end{document}


(not sure how to make it work with XeLaTeX or XeTeX)

• That also works in XeLaTeX. So does $\mathbb{R}$. Feb 5, 2019 at 9:06

\input amssym.tex
${\Bbb R}$
\bye


works fine

• Did you mean \input amssymb.tex? Apr 21, 2013 at 16:37
• @Jubobs Nope, amssym. On my computer this code snippet does the job Apr 26, 2013 at 12:46

1. Using the default Computer Modern -font (which, as you've already found out, can be extended with the amssym to have access to BlackBoardBold.)
1. Use just one family and change the active range by re-telling TeX the glyph positions every time the style changes (i.e. script, fraktur, etc. This is the way I've understood the unicode-math -package does it). For plain-xetex, you could do something along these lines.
2. Fix the styles to their own \families using mapping-files created with teckit_compile from SIL. See: Changing math font to OTF in XeTeX using plaintex-format.